Webs
by Thrythlind
Summary: After the genetically-enhanced super-spider bit Peter, just where did it go?
1. Beginnings

In New York, a group of high school students followed a woman around a lab as she talked about spiders and genetic research. None of them where aware of the tiny blue and red arachnid spinning its web in the high reaches of the laboratory above them. In the overall sterile environment of the lab, there was few if any food to be had for the tiny creature, and then it detected heat far below it.

Drifting downward on a nigh-invisible thread, the spider landed upon the spot of heat and discovered that the creature was far too large to be considered food. The hapless teenager shifted at the wrong moment, and the startled spider bit down only to be thrown off by the sudden twitch of the threatening creature it had first thought was food.

Quickly the startled creature scuttled under cover and out of sight, and just as quickly it forgot the teenager it had bitten. Losing track of its original web, the creature reached the edge of the wall and cautiously started the vast journey around and out of the lab. The controls on the project were basically sterile, but had not been designed with the idea that any of the spiders would ever get out of their cages.

There were other labs on the premises, labs with commercial applications and the spider found its way into one such lab in an outdoor section of the facilities. The lab had a large supply of insects geared toward a layered natural defense against parasites and pests, plenty of food for a starving spider. And the colorful blooms gave it an excellent place to hide itself as well.

That was until certain blooms it had chosen were gathered, packaged and mailed out of the country, in past customs through various means available to the one that had ordered the blooms.

By the time the spider arrived at its unintended destination, across the North American continent and the Pacific Ocean, it was nearing the end of its lifespan.

Desperate.

Hungry.

Frightened again.

The first thing it did as the blooms were carefully removed from the packaging was to bite.

"Ouch! Accursed insect!"

****

The plane touched down in the Big Apple as the days of summer started to draw slowly to a close. July was ending and the dog days of August were right around the corner, and the young woman stepping out of the plane could feel that as the heat sent its wavering fingers into the exit platform that connected the aircraft to the airport.

The crowd of people around the young woman made her wish that she had opted for the luxury class flight rather than blending in with the common fare.

People made her…uncomfortable.

It was hard to feel like she…fit.

Too much had happened.

Ignorance was bliss.

Clarity was confusion.

And heartbreak…

She walked past a newsstand, not even taking a glimpsing interest in the papers on sale there. Had they been in Japanese, even such total disinterest would have been enough to become aware of the headlines and attract her attention, but her English, excellent as it was, took time to digest compared to her native language.

The young woman set her carry on luggage down in front of a phone and lifted it up, dialing in her credit card and the number she wished to call.

"I have arrived," she said quietly, speaking in her native Japanese. "No, everything is taken care of. Has she…?"

She sighed in disappointment and, placing her gloved hand against the wall, leaned heavily.

"I'll keep in touch…no, please, tell no one…no shadow must be placed on her…my thanks, yes," the young woman sighed and hung the phone up, bending down to pick up her luggage and move on.

She moved quietly to the luggage claim and from there to a cab to take her to her new home.

And soon she was looking out of her new estate, complete with the necessary greenhouse, at the setting sun in the distance.

Taking a deep sigh, she turned to look back at one particular piece of luggage, a large trunk that contained an old suit of armor that she'd taken home for sentimental reasons.

At least that's what she told the customs agents.

Walking to it, making no sound as she walked delicately across the floor and bent down to easily lift it up and carry it over to a nearby table and opening the latch.

The scarlet and sapphire armor within certainly appeared as if it were a finely crafted antique, made from hundreds of individual plates, though the young woman in question showed none of the consideration an actual antique would deserve as she took up the kabuto and set it on the bar in front of her and proceeded to dismantle it.

Quickly, the metal plates were separated and cleaned from their artificially aged appearance and set in front of her one by one as a succession of darts, each of which made hollow clinking sound as she set it down.

The backing of the helmet unfurled into a long lash of cloth that had been thick only by how many times it had overlapped itself. This, she tied to the crest with a quick, sure movement before she lashed it out experimentally through the large room. Calling it back with another simple gestured, she coiled it gently and effectively even as she slid a piece of the crest-turned-handle off the rest and then shut it closed again.

The sote, with thick shoulder plates, came next, each dismantled into five canisters which only lacked a solid sound due to the liquid each still held within. These went next to darts as well.

It was good to have the supply on hand, her plants would not be arriving for another four days yet, and it would take some time before she could grow the exotic plants she needed for her concoctions.

The o-yori came apart next, disgorging dozens upon dozens of small glass marbles that contained within themselves what appeared to be water surrounding another, smaller marble within. Each of these were treated cautiously and carefully, making sure to keep any of them from coming close to rolling off and breaking somewhere.

The plates that had made up what appeared to be the primary defensive construction of the o-yori separated out into a succession of slim round pieces of metal as she knocked the ceramic corners off and proceeded to screw the pieces together into a succession of batons.

The plates of the kusazari was undone, the metal was removed to reveal a flexible and fibrous material that she wasted no time in laying out as the pieces of a full outfit similar to what the ill educated masses would have assumed had at one time been worn by ninja. The cloth itself stretched out easily enough and she began to slip the removed metal pieces into their proper positions.

Hearts and Lungs.

Kidneys.

Upper arms and thighs.

The kote and tsubo suneate were left intact, but, as they were polished, it became obvious that the aged appearance was faked again and the armor was of a much newer and more cutting edge alloy.

Everything was marked, acid etched in most cases, with a webbed pattern that showed the repeating motif of a rose.

"Ahh, time for a little exploration," the young woman said.

****

Her training and experienced combined with her new strength and agility made roof-hopping reach whole new levels, but she didn't really reach her greatest speed until she hit the high-rises of New York proper.

The city was full of tall buildings.

Buildings of stone and mixed with the more familiar glass that the younger skyscrapers of her home city had.

This was the most free she ever felt.

Always.

In the old times it had been the only time she could find clarity, the only time she could see the world for what it was.

And now it was the only time she could put the world behind her.

Funny how that worked.

****

"Hurry it up," an insistent man dressed in unflattering black clothing said. "Someone could see us any time now."

He and the man he was speaking too were huddled in the shadows in front of a Gamestop advertising everything from guns and to jewelry. Inside was a virtual smorgasbord of material that would go very quickly on the black market.

"It's three o'clock in the morning," the other said. "Who's going to see us?"

"Cops," the other said. "Or one of those masked freaks that's been running around. The Punisher."

"Okay, so there's a lot of reasons, but still, what's going to make us slower," the second asked. "You pushing me to hurry up? Or you being quiet and letting me work."

He waited for a response and failed to get one.

The thief crinkled his eyes in confusion, expecting at least a mumbling acceptance if not a scathing, sarcastic remark from his partner. Turning about, curious, and a little afraid, to see what had happened to quiet his friend, the man paused in his attempt to deactivate the alarm system.

There was his partner, standing there above him, standing eerily still, mouth open and hand at the back of his neck as his eyes glanced about frantically.

"What the…" he started to say.

And that's when the dart sank into his shoulder. He had enough time to open his mouth and start to push back in surprise before almost every muscle in his body simultaneously froze and he toppled stiffly to the ground behind him.

Both men watched, as much as they could, a slender, definitely female form drop out of the dark sky and trace a casual, sophisticated stride to where they had been frozen and glanced over the two of them, eyebrows arcing.

"You shall be capable of moving again shortly," she said in a shrill voice that never the less held a polite tone. "However, I think I have other methods with which to engage your presence further…"

It wasn't much later that a police patrol car drove by to see the two thugs hanging downward from strands of thick webbing, the image of a rose worked into the netting between the two.

****

The advanced biology class was filled with pretty much what Peter had expected there to be: a load of older undergraduates on their way to pre-med or biology programs. He nodded and made his way across the room to find a seat.

His presence was really something of a formality really. There were no tests to take to pass out of this class, as it was considered a somewhat high level class. He wasn't expecting it to do much for him, but that was what personal study was for. And there was always the chance of getting an exceptional teacher.

Several of the other students were looking at him somewhat questioningly. He did still look something like a high school student after all, and all those older students were probably wondering what he was doing there.

The sound of the door opening attracted his attention, but it was just another student walking into the room and she didn't look any older than he did.

She was Asian, and fairly short and trim with long legs. She was flipping through the book with a resigned and bored expression on her face.

"Excuse me," one of the other students said. "This is a 4000 level class, I think you two have the wrong class."

The Japanese girl turned an irritated look toward the speaker and appeared to be gathering herself for an answer when another person entered the room.

He was a tall man and he would have been distinguished even without the missing arm.

"I think I should be the one to make that judgment," he said. "Miss Kuno, please take a seat and we can get started."

"Certainly," she said, restricting herself to an irritated frown as she sat down in a nearby available chair and began to set her class materials out.


	2. Goblin Fair

"So I guess you're my competition for the lab assistant job," Peter said jokingly as he caught up to the asian freshman.

Kodachi blinked and turned around to look at him, for a moment. Peter saw a level of calculating consideration in the girl's eyes, probably trying to gauge just what purpose he had in speaking to her. Eventually a smile came onto her face, even if it was somewhat hesitant.

"I don't believe I have that honor," she said, turning to face him completely. "I understand that Dr. Connors' work is quite ground-breaking, but I'm afraid I won't have the time necessary to the position."

"If you're talking about a job, the position does pay," Peter said.

"I don't need money," Kodachi said, waving her hand dismissively. "So you're welcome to it. But that sounds like something that a graduate student would do, not lowly freshmen such as ourselves, Mr..."

"Parker," he said. "Peter Parker. And you're probably right about the graduates getting the job, but I think I'll still try for it."

"Good luck to you," Kodachi said. "Is biology your major?"

"Physics," Peter corrected. "But I've always been interested in all the sciences. What about you?"

"Botany and chemistry," Kodachi said. "Is there a purpose to this conversation?"

Peter blinked at the bluntness at the end of that string of speech, and fumbled for an answer for a couple of minutes.

"Well, I was just thinking that we could stick together in class," Peter said.

"Do you mean as people of intellect among the masses?" Kodachi asked. It seemed casual and sarcastic but there was something behind it. "Or as lowly freshmen among the seniors?"

"The second one, I think," Peter said, smirking.

"In that case, that sounds to be a good idea," Kodachi said. "So long as that is the idea."

"Am I doing something wrong?" Peter asked.

"Perhaps not," Kodachi said. "But I am still dealing with…issues involving my past attempts at socializing. It is not by best skill and I suppose I've gotten a trace…paranoid."

"I think I can understand that," Peter said.

Kodachi arched an eyebrow and leaned forward a bit, there was something in his voice and eye that was familiar to her. Whatever it was satisfied her well enough and she nodded.

"Well," she said, pausing to write something down. "This is my number, call and we can arrange something. For now, I have other things to attend to."

"Thanks," Peter said, all ready writing his own information down. He handed the paper over to her. "That's my number. I should get going if I want to get that job with Dr. Connors, too."

****

Two scenes were taking place across the city. And they very similar in appearance.

In a small loft, Peter Parker was slipping on his costume in preparation of going out on patrol. As always it was a grim undertaking, an effort to make up for the original mistake of pride and arrogance that had cost him so much.

It was impossible to put on the mask without remembering how the fact that the Spider-Man's first appearance had let a man escape who would later kill his Uncle Ben.

His roommate was out, so we was able to take a little more care than usual, but he didn't use much in the way of equipment so it was still a quick process. There was pretty much just the belt that he used, all the rest of his equipment was essentially built in.

And then he was out into the night.

****

Kodachi took a deep breath as she kneeled among the pieces of her costume and gear in the manner of a samurai preparing for battle.

She kept her face still as she checked the darts, each with the blue and red rose and web motif of her costume, and carefully loaded them into the arm-guards, making sure to have a full load.

Like the black roses that supplied their paralytic, she had created the darts on whim. The idea of playing superhero had come to her and she had armed herself according to how she knew to fight.

Drugs and tools.

Besides, a spider needed a sting, she had thought with a bitter smile in mirror of when she had first created the weaponry.

Originally it had been a game, something to amuse herself with and to take her mind off the reasons behind her hunt for the scientists that had been responsible, if accidentally, for her change. But then...

Well, that had been settled, best not to dwell on past mistakes. She would not sit idly by again, family or no family.

Samurai had their duty, and she was samurai.

She had a duty to attend to.

****

Neither spider chanced upon the other that night, perhaps due to their differences in common travel paths. Spider-Man mostly swung from building to building pulling himself along weblines while Spider-Rose mostly leapt from perch to perch, using webs only to bridge the largest gaps or else to gain height quickly.

However, there was also their starting locations to consider. Peter lived in a Manhattan studio while Kodachi lived in an estate on the edge of town. They came at the bounds of New York City from different directions.

Whatever the case, they did not meet that night, as they had not met previously.

The next morning, the papers, especially the Bugle, had a number of articles to posit questions on the metahuman situation in New York.

While Spider-Man's name was blazoned across the front pages as a menace, the more lethal activities of Punisher and Daredevil lay in the columns and back pages.

Kodachi was, unfortunately, taking a sip from a cup of tea when she first looked at the front page. She almost choked in surprise at what she saw there.

"Who is Spider-Man?"

The newspapers were suddenly a lot more interesting than merely a way to pass the time until she felt like sleeping.

"Man? They think I'm a..." She paused as her rolled to the picture that went with the article. "This is daylight, I haven't been out during day yet. Continues, hmm? Perhaps I should have read the papers a bit more before coming here."

Kodachi continued looking over the article and the bright blue and red costume worn my the man in the picture. It was quite similar to her own costume, which had been designed to appear similar to the spider that had bitten her. "Someone else was bitten?"

The Japanese girl frowned as she considered that. This was a new element to her search.

****

Peter looked at the piece of paper in his hand as he walked along and considered calling the number written on it. Kodachi Kuno had said something about not needing money, maybe she had a line on a job for him. Now that he'd ruined the Dr. Connor thing with missing the second straight interview time due to his…extracurricular activities.

He was walking along the street as he caught sight of a familiar figure exiting a diner as he passed by. Mary Jane, angrily pulling on a trench coat as she exited out onto the street.

Stopping he turned around and jogged after her.

"Hey!"

"Buzz off," she said over her shoulder, without looking.

"MJ! It's me," Peter called forward, getting the redheaded young woman to turn about.

"Hi!" she responded, suddenly much more cheerful. "What are you doing up here?"

"Oh," Peter said, a little embarrassed now. "I'm begging for a job. How about you?"

"Oh," she hesitated momentarily. "I'm heading to an audition."

"An audition," Peter responded. "So you're acting now?"

"Yeah," Mary Jane responded. "I work steady…in fact I just got off a job."

It was hard not to notice how she was keeping her coat closed. Peter had already seen her waitress uniform but decided not to bring it up. There was no reason to embarrass her, after all.

"Wow, MJ, that's great," he said. "You're living the dream."

"Hey, girl!" a fat man in a cooks apron called out from across the street, prompting MJ to look very embarrassed. "Your drawer was six dollars short. Next time that happens, I'm taking it out of your check. Excuse me, Miss Watson! Hey! I'm talking to you."

"Yes, Enrique, I get you!" she answered back just as angrily.

"Well it better not happen no more," the cook snapped. "Don't roll your eyes at me."

Rolling her eyes, Mary Jane turned back to Peter and hesitantly opened her coat to show the orange uniform she was wearing as she got off of work.

"Some dream," she said quietly.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of," Peter said.

"Don't tell Harry," MJ said.

"Don't tell Harry?" Peter asked.

"Don't you guys live together?" the redhead asked. "We're going out, didn't he tell you?"

"Oh, that's right," Peter said after a moment's hesitation, letting his arms drop slightly and failing to notice the flutter of paper to the ground.

"I don't want him to know I'm working tables," she said. "I'm afraid he'd think it was low."

"That's not low," Peter said. "You're working. Harry doesn't always live in a place I like to call Earth."

Mary Jane laughed in response and looked down to see the flutter of paper at their feet.

"Oh, I think you dropped something," she said. Bending down, she took it up and, out of curiosity looked at it. "Kodachi…that's a strange name."

"It's Japanese," Peter said. "She's another student in one of my advanced classes. It's the two of us freshman and a bunch of seniors bitter that we're there."

"Oh," MJ said, taken aback. "She…well, I'd like to meet her sometime."

"I don't know her, really," Peter said firmly. "We just traded numbers in case something in class comes up."

"I see," MJ said, smiling. "Well, I hope I'll see you again sometime."

"Yeah, maybe I'll stop by for some of your Moondance coffee," he said jokingly as they walked apart, going their separate ways. "And I won't tell Harry."

"No…don't tell Harry," MJ repeated.

****

It was surprisingly easy to find information on Spider-Man, Kodachi found. His escapades had been well-documented since soon after his first appearance. Judging by the photos he had the same amazing agility as her, though he seemed to prefer wading into the thick of things.

He had started to appear sometime about a year ago, about the same time she was bitten. That probably meant that he was bitten a good deal of time before she had been.

There were some contradictions, of course. On the one hand, Spider-Man seemed to be virtually posing for the camera at times, but, if he truly wanted fame and popularity he was obviously going about it the wrong way. The papers, especially the Bugel, were dead set at portraying him as some sort of menace.

"All the more reason to keep low-key then," Kodachi muttered to herself.

Now, the question was, how did the man get exposed to the spider? That would be a big clue to who he was. And if she could find another, she'd be able to tell a little better whether the mutation was stable or not.

If it was the same spider that bit her, then the man had to have something to do with the lab in someway. The roses she had ordered came from the same building, so, unless the spider walked out and then came back to the lab to be boxed up in a shipment of roses, the bite had to occur on the lab's grounds.

Then again, she had no idea how many spiders there were...or how many got away. And the lab wasn't going to give that sort of information to a random person on the street, or admit it to anyone for that matter.

Which didn't matter, because she couldn't find the lab anyway.

Well, the physical location was easy enough to find. It was the only electron microscope of its size in the region. But the real part of the lab that was important to her search, the people and the data, wasn't anywhere near it.

She sighed and leaned back away from the computer and went to check her mail. She set most to the side, bill and notices to be dealt with later. And one she spent several minutes staring at before she set it in the drawer, unopened. And that left one item undealt with.

An invitation to some sort of party or fair. Something to do with a company she had some stock in. She checked the name again.

"Oscorp," she said. She shrugged and thought about it. "I suppose I need to go. Hmm...let's see what to wear?"

****

Kodachi stood at the end of balcony in her black and red kimono and held her glass of punch as she looked out over the masses of people below her, all of them roaring and cheering and dancing to the music coming from the stage. The silver crucifix her St. Hebereke teachers had given her as a graduation gift glittered under her neck, drawing attention away from her grim face.

If any of them bothered to look up at her, they would assume that she was gloating over her innate superiority to them. How little they understood.

Out there were people that had families. Families that were sane and alive.

She had money and privilege. She had stocks and investments. She had grown up with servants and whatever toy she desired. And if she broke something she could always get a new one.

She looked down and caught sight of one girl, very much like her, a young Japanese-American just out for a day of fun. That girl would go home today, and she would greet her parents and maybe a sibling. And she would chat for long hours on the phone with her friends, and complain about such things as homework and chores while discussing the virtues and attributes of whatever heartthrob was popular now.

These were the things she had seen on television and had glimpsed through dirty, fog-enshrouded windows while listening to her teammates occasionally.

The one thing she could say that put her above her family members, aside from the newly gained clearness of thought. She at least understood how those people out there could be so happy with so little while she was miserable with so much.

"I shouldn't have come," she whispered in Japanese. After this...this...mass going home to her silent and empty home would be a near torture.

She sighed and shook her head.

****

Down below, Peter had caught sight of her as he scanned the balcony to take his mind away from the headline on the Daily Bugle. For a moment he was struck by the melancholy of her manner, even as he recognized his younger classmate.

Peter had a brief thought that he was travelling in higher social circles than someone of his background should have been in. The Osborns and now it seemed that Kodachi was also rich in some manner. And then his eye travelled further down the balcony and what he saw drove thoughts of Kodachi from his mind.

There stood Mary Jane and Harry, on the balcony and talking together like what they where, girlfriend and boyfriend. Even after hearing from Mary Jane, it was still a shock to actually see his best friend with the love of his life.

And then that feeling started.

That feeling that he had begun to associate with danger. Inexorably his eyes were drawn toward a small figure in the distant sky, growing closer by the moment.

Above him, Kodachi was similarly pulled from her melancholy mood as the Goblin approached and the time for destiny was at hand.

****

The approaching dot in the sky was trouble, and that was clear to all of Kodachi's senses, but she had other problems. She had not brought either her tools or her costume along with her. The idea of wearing some flashy costume underneath her clothes reminded her of the Black Rose, and that was a persona show did not wish to return to. Unfortunately, it now meant that she was unprepared to face whatever was heading towards them.

The green armored figure flew past, drawing roars of applause from the crowd below as the people on the balcony watched somewhat confused.

Kodachi stood still and waiting as it went past one time, wondering what the strange fellow was going to do. On the second pass, the intent and the nature of danger was obvious as a missile streaked through the air to strike under the balcony upon which Kodachi stood.

She had to shift to keep her balance with the sudden explosion, her feet clinging to the ground under her and further aiding her balance as the balcony splintered and a whole section of it threatened to topple to the street.

Two of the party-goers on the balcony with her were not so lucky and tumbled off of the side. Or they would have if Kodachi had not webbed them and pulled them back, her actions covered by the general confusion.

Further to the side a girl and her date were separated by the cracking balcony and the boy was struck unconscious by falling rubble. Kodachi would have done something then, but the green figure again came flying back past, a round orange object in his hand that the gymnast was certain was another incendiary device.

"Out, am I?" the figure demanded in an unhinged manner as it tossed the device at some people trapped on the falling corner.

Kodachi made an attempt to leap for the item, but Kimonos were not made for battle and other such activities. The silk tore before her greatly enhanced strength, but not before the dress had successfully tripped her and brought her back to the ground.

Kodachi was rising from the fall in time to see the men and women on that corner were reduced to skeletons in a flash of green light. A lump rose in her throat as people died in front of her, victims of this maniac in green. Victims of her unpreparedness and reluctance to act openly.

As the green monster floated up again, looking down on the girl in the red dress, Kodachi tore her kimono, prepared to jump into the fight regardless, when a cry from the street echoed up.

"Look, it's Spider-Man!"

Kodachi and the man in green armor both turned their eyes in the direction the woman was pointing, in time to see the red and blue costumed hero slam a two-footed kick into the masked monster, sending him across the street into a balloon some ways away. His aircraft, on the other hand, flew uncontrolled through a balloon, deflating it instantly, causing the heavy arch that it had been supporting to slowly fall to the earth, a kid underneath it.

Before Kodachi could move to do anything, Spider-Man was already swinging down to rescue the boy. She did add her own aid, however. A strand of webbing shot out to catch the arch. The other end of the line was likewise propelled to strike another building behind the falling display. Thus further slowed, Spider-Man arrived in plenty of time to snatch the boy from harm.

All eyes were on the costumed spider, and so, no one saw her actions. Most who noticed the webbing only assumed that it was Spider-Man doing it, only one person other than Kodachi knew otherwise.

"Where'd that come from?" Peter wondered as he handed the boy to his mother.

The extra webbing, however, was forgotten as the villain stood up, groaning and was faced with a small group of brave, if foolish cops.

Leaving the villain to Spider-Man, she turned to the people on the balcony with her. The ones that couldn't escape themselves for one reason or another.

"Hold on a little longer," Kodachi called out to the girl. "I'll help you if I can."

"Get Harry first," the girl called out, indicating the unconscious young man. "I can hold on a bit more."

"The balcony could give any minute," Kodachi protested. "He is safe where he..."

"There could be another explosion," the girl said. "Just do it..."

Kodachi frowned, but nodded and swept up "Harry", not bothering to make it look difficult, and swept him far enough inside to be out of harm's way before returning for the girl.

By that time Spider-Man was coming to save her, but he had a problem coming on his heels that would make that difficult.

A fast release of webbing crossed the space between her and the armored villain, covering his eyes and veering him off his intended course. He managed to merely clip Spider-Man, slamming into the glass wall above the balcony.

Spider-Man landed underneath the maniac, not more than ten feet from Kodachi, and quickly smashed a hand through the glider's wing, tearing apart some wiring that sent the craft careening wildly into the sky for a moment before the maniac regained control and retreated for the day.

Kodachi had already been moving for the trapped girl at that point, but the balcony was quickly giving way, and the girl's fall started before she could reach her.

Obviously not seeing Kodachi, Spider-man dived past her and dived for the girl, barely catching her and swinging away.

****

Peter looked over the pictures he developed with a cautious expression. None of the photos had managed to catch just who else was casting webbing about, but he knew that someone else was. He'd gone back to the scene to take some aftermath pictures and caught the strand that had slowed the arch on film.

He knew what had happened, of course, he knew the trick himself. Sending one end of strand one place and a glob of webbing with the end of the strand somewhere else. Of course, the weight of the arch had broken the webbing eventually, but it had given him plenty of time to save the boy.

Then there was the webbing in that maniac's eyes. Peter knew that he hadn't done that, though he was certainly thinking it.

Somebody else around either had powers like his, or had learned to duplicate his webbing artificially somehow.

He didn't remember anybody else appearing sick after that high school trip. Nor did anyone else in the school show any sign of spider powers, but perhaps other schools had made the same trip. If someone else had gotten bitten by that spider, then there would be another spider-man around, or woman for that matter.

Unfortunately, he didn't have many good shots of the balcony as he'd been in too much of a hurry to properly set the camera, and he hadn't been paying much attention to anybody but the guy in the green, and Mary Jane.

In any case, he had another assignment to handle after this and nowhere further he could go on the mystery of whoever helped him. Unless of course the other spider, if that's what they were, came out into the open.


	3. A Rose's Party

Peter set aside the problem of his unknown ally to deal with a problem of a more personal and difficult nature as he heard Harry enter the apartment. Peter gathered himself for the talk to come as he shut down the little dark room he'd set up for himself and stepped out into the apartment.

Harry looked at him for a moment in a mixture of guilt and embarrassment, before turning to the phone. Peter politely waited for the phone call, obviously to Mary Jane, finish.

"Incredible? What do you mean incredible?" Harry asked Mary Jane, drawing a bit of a self-indulgent smile from Peter behind him. "Listen, I could come over and take you out somewhere, buy you something. Because I like to buy you things. It'll make you feel better. Yeah, yeah. All right. I'll see you then. And what do you mean incredible?"

The phone conversation ended and Harry looked to Peter, still embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want you to find out this way," Harry said. "It's just, you never made a move."

"You're right," Peter said idly. "I never did."

Harry decided he'd had enough at that point and changed the topic.

"What the hell was that thing?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Peter said, thinking back to the maniac that had crashed the party. "But whatever it was, someone has to stop it."

Peter was wondering just how that could be done when he considered something else.

****

"I'm settled in fine over here," Kodachi said. "I am having no issue with my age. No, everyone is quite understanding of the issue."

Kodachi failed to mention that most American documents seemed to be operating under the assumption that she was actually eighteen rather than sixteen, an impression she hoped to keep up.

Graduating early had almost driven her, well, back into madness, but she had managed it.

"How are events proceeding back home?" she asked, eager to change the subject

from her somewhat prideful and unnecessary refusal to live as a so-called minor in a foreign country.

Besides, this made her older than Ranma and Akane instead of younger…

…in an admittedly dangerously treading close to self-deceiving manner that she should likely not pursue any further.

Kodachi paused a moment to listen to the response on the other end of the line.

"Nothing has changed then," Kodachi said with a sigh. "I suppose I could not expect much to in so short a time. I suppose we're all too young no to know better."

There was another pause and Kodachi took a sip of her tea as she sat in the dim room of her study.

"My maturation was not what one would call natural," Kodachi answered the unheard side of the conversation. "How about...her?"

Kodachi stood up straight, setting down her tea and looked disturbed for a moment.

"She'll be laying a plan of some sort," Kodachi warned. "No, there's nothing here she wants. She wants the same thing the rest of us do, Ranma. I'll keep my eyes open regardless."

Kodachi sat back down and cautiously tuck another sip from her tea.

"No, things are quite boring here," Kodachi said. "There was a little excitement the other day, I'll admit, but it is likely no where near as bad as the Tokyo papers made it out to be."

Meanwhile she glanced at the Daily Bugle, and especially the photographs of the battle, and considered things carefully.

The Bugle's photographers managed to find Spider-Man with uncanny accuracy. In addition, the other spider seemed to almost be posing for some of the shots. As if he was helping the photographer to get good shots.

That implied a certain…familiarity.

Curious that the other spider would be so supporting the paper that so viciously defamed him, but it would make an excellent cover. In any case, it gave her at least one lead for her search.

****

Kodachi walked into the office and looked about, her face partially-hidden by the expensively subdued pair of sunglasses she was wearing. Her off-center pony-tail rested on the black, faux-leather shoulder of her jacket, which was opened to reveal a green, silk shirt underneath, embroidered in a subtle and skilled manner with a vareity of floral patterns in reds and yellows. A tight pair of designer blue jeans further added to the assemble, but the finishing pieces were an exquisite set of high heels.

This outfit was not overly much to Kodachi's liking. The shirt was not so bad, but the rest of the outfit had problems. The jacket looked so terribly artificial, though a true leather jacket was certainly out of the question. She may have lost much of the insane pretension she had previously held, but she still held onto the samurai idea that wearing a piece of a dead animal was...unclean. The blue jeans looked fine, but they felt like they were either trying to crush her to death, crawl into forbidden areas or both. As for the shoes...

It was clear to Kodachi's mind, after numerous giggles and comments directed her way, that high heels were not commonly worn with jeans. There were two facts that did not help. The damn things were uncomfortable as hell and only her enhanced agility and balance training let her walk normally in them.

In any case, she had reached the Daily Bugle office alive and had managed to get up to this floor. And now, on to her task.

She saw a desk standing in front of an office and recognized the presence of what had to be a secretary for someone else. She worked her way wincingly to the desk and the name plate that read "Betty Brant."

"Excuse me," Kodachi said, looking about.

"Yes?" the woman responded looking up to see the girl for a moment before turning back to her work. "May I help you?"

"Quite," Kodachi said. "Who would I speak to about photographers?"

"If you have pictures to sell," Miss Brant said idly as she typed at the computer to call up an appropriate program. "I'll arrange an appointment with Mr. Jameson to review them. So if you w…"

"I do not think so," Kodachi said, with a but of a hmph. "I am not a photographer. I am looking for a photographer."

Miss Brant took on a long-suffering expression and closed the notepad on her computer, returning to the previous application as she looked again at the somewhat overdressed teenager in front of her.

"Listen, Miss," Brant said without pausing to get Kodachi's name. "This is a newspaper office, not an agency for photographers for hire."

"I am aware of this," Kodachi said testily. "But I understand that the Daily Bugle uses mostly freelancers, and I thought perhaps that..."

"Uh huh," Betty Brant interrupted, shaking her head. "That perhaps we give out the names of our resources so that other papers can make a bid on them?"

"Certainly not," Kodachi said with an appropriately arrogant snort. "I am merely in the process of organizing a...housewarming party at my estate in order to meet some of my neighbors and I was hoping to have the event documented."

"There are a large number of photographers listed in the," Betty paused for a moment as she picked up a certain word. "...did you say estate?"

"Yes, estate," Kodachi said. "I moved in yesterday afternoon."

"Can you give me the address?" Betty asked.

Kodachi sighed irritably and jotted something down on a piece of paper she took from a pad on Betty's desk before handing it back to her. Looking at the address, Betty recognized it immediately.

"Hmm," she said. "Would you mind sitting down for a moment, Miss...?"

"Kuno Koda...," Kodachi said, coughing as she caught her mistake. "Pardon me, I almost forgot this was the United States. Miss Kodachi Kuno."

"Right," Betty said. "Please sit down."

****

Kodachi was beginning to regret her choice of acts, because she was finding herself thoroughly roped into actually giving the implied party.

J. Jonah Jameson, it seemed, had seen a chance to make some further contacts. As such, he was willing to help her, not only with a photographer, but also with organizing and planning. Her little charade was quickly turning into a major society event and that scared her more than little.

"Now, about photographers," Kodachi said in a manner she hoped wasn't timid. "I want this to be a memorable event." It would be memorable for her if only a quarter of the people mentioned attended. "So if you..."

"We'll find you a photographer, don't worry about that," Jameson said brusquely, lighting a cigar as he spoke. "A professional one capable of taking pictures of more than just lunatics in Halloween masks."

"I'm not sure what you mean by lunatics in Halloween masks," Kodachi said. "Unless you mean that debacle at the Unity Fair."

Jameson looked at her as if she were subnormal mentally for a moment before realizing something.

"You only came to the States a week or so ago, that's right," he said nodding. "Yeah, the freak from the fair. A thug in a mask who plays vigilante, I have someone who gets me pictures of him in action. You'll probably see some eventually. Maybe you already have."

"How terribly plebian," Kodachi said, affecting her old tone of disapproval. "I should hope to avoid such characters as much as possible myself. A mask wearing 'crime-fighter'? It is too much to accept."

"A girl after my own heart," Jameson laughed. "I think there's something else behind this loony, and I intend to find it."

"That sounds like a worthy cause," Kodachi agreed, standing up. "In any regard, I thank you for your help on my party. You have my number and address, and I have your number here in case I need to consult on further points."

"No problem, Miss Kuno," Jameson said. "I'm always glad to help."

Kodachi nodded as she considered that, yes, she was now to a point that she needed to actually give the party. At least it would provide her a natural way to meet this photographer, who might lead her to this other spider-person.

She bowed politely to her host and left the room, catching the amused look of the secretary.

"More than you bargained for?" Betty asked.

"Quite a bit more," Kodachi said as she walked passed uncomfortably on her heels.

She stepped off the elevator, confused and cautious as she carefully headed for the street.

****

Peter walked into the office, looking about.

"Parker!" Jameson's characteristic voice sounded out through the office. "Get in here!"

Parker headed quickly to the office, glancing at Betty as he walked by, the secretary simply rolled her eyes.

Peter's eyes sparked a moment, he hadn't been expecting anything like that after only a couple of weeks of working there.

"Here you go, Mr. Jameson," Peter said. "The Oscorp press conference just like you asked for. But there was staff photographer there."

"Kid, if all you do is snap pictures of Spider-Man," Jameson said. "You're not going to get any real skill. So, when I send you out as a back-up photographer…be thankful I'm giving you the chance. Now, let's see if we can use any of these…"

Peter handed over his pile of papers and watched as Jameson went through his normal dismissive act over them. The man really got on his nerves…really quickly.

"Betty," Jameson yelled out.

Eyes rolling, Betty stood up from her desk and stomped her way inside.

"Yes," she asked patiently.

"Get me a list of our social photographers for that Kuno party-" Jameson started to say.

"Kodachi Kuno?" Peter asked reflexively.

Jameson and Betty both turned sharp-eyed looks on Peter as he said that.

"You know her," Jameson said with a smirk.

"Vaguely," Peter said. "She's a student in one of my classes."

Jameson's face broke out into a wide, lunatic grin.

"Peter, my boy," he said. "I knew there was something I liked about you."

****

"Make sure you thank her at the party," Mary Jane insisted as she stepped away from Harry and glanced down the hallway to see Peter coming into the loft. "Hey, Peter."

"Hey, MJ," Peter said. "What's going on?"

"That friend of yours, Kodachi," MJ said. "She saved Harry's life at the fair. I'm just reminding him to make sure to thank her for that."

"So you're going to be at that party too?" Peter asked.

"Oh, she invited you?" MJ asked. "I thought you were just classmates."

"No," Peter said, a little too quickly for Harry's comfort, but he pushed those thoughts aside. "Jameson wants me to go as a photographer, get pictures of the party goers and such."

"Oh, that'll be interesting," Mary Jane said.

"Yeah, I guess it will be," Peter said, wondering if he was always going to be moving on the fringes of high society without being part of it.

"I guess, between the two of you," Harry said. "I'll have to thank her."

****

Spider-Man landed in the dark shadows on the edges of Miss Kuno's property, but it was Peter Parker who walked to the gate to be admitted by the security that had been hired for this event.

Peter looked about the surroundings with an inevitable touch of envy. All the land within the walls, and the house ahead, belonged to one eighteen-year-old girl. Other girls Kodachi's age were saving for college and getting their own apartments, not splurging on an estate.

He shook his head clear of the emotion, however, as he walked through to the house, checking his camera.

"Parker!" a gruff voice shouted out. "It's about time you showed up!"

Peter turned around and was dismayed to see his boss, Jameson bearing down on him, a cigar chomped tightly in his mouth.

"I got here as fast as I could Mr. Jameson," Peter said.

"Next time start earlier," Jameson insisted. "And what are you doing just hanging around here, get to work and snap some pictures. There's a lot of big wigs around here."

"Right away, Mr. Jameson," Peter said, partially tuning out the cranking older man.

"And be sure to get some pictures of that Kodachi girl," Jameson said. "You should find her easy. Damn strange sense of fashion if you ask me."

Jameson's eyes bulged angrily as he looked around the room and then suddenly slackened as he was walking forward to genially shake some man's hand.

Peter shook his head in frustration as the bear of an editor proceeded to go about the business of making connections in the town. Peter did have to admit one thing that he agreed with Jameson on.

Kodachi was easy to find, but it wasn't due to a strange fashion sense, unless kimonos worn by Japanese aristocracy could be considered strange.

The high, shrill laugh that she produced was something that was anything but easy to ignore and forget, and it drew Peter right to the girl, making what the rich probably considered polite conversation.

Kodachi carried herself proudly, almost arrogantly, and seemed to have a cavalier manner towards everyone that she was presented with. As for the caterers and waiters that had been hired for the night, she barely seemed aware of their presence at all as they passed through the crowd.

Kodachi kept her gaze scanning as she talked, probably seeing that the guests were properly cared for.

Kodachi felt herself suffocating with each passing moment.

Here she was, continents away from Nerima, and she still behaved this way. It was as if she didn't know any other way to behave.

"Yes," Kodachi was saying. "It is a modest dwelling, I'll admit, but I shall require as few distractions as possible while I am attending school..."

"Excuse me, Miss Kuno," a girl's voice called out, attracting Kodachi's attention and immediately she felt a weight strike her chest.

It was that girl from the attack on the fair, and her boyfriend. Harry, Kodachi remembered, and from a resemblance to another guest, she had to assume that he was Harry Osborne. Of course, she should have known that anybody who would have been on that balcony would have had a chance of appearing at this party. She only wished this pair had decided not to attend.

She opened her mouth to talk them, and she knew what would come out.

"Yes," Kodachi asked. "What is it? I was in the middle of a conversation." She gestured to the other socialite that she had been speaking to."

"Don't you remember?" Mary Jane asked.

"I don't often commit to memory the faces of every person I see," Kodachi said.

"On the balcony?" Mary Jane reminded her. "You carried Harry away."

"Carried..." Kodachi blinked for a moment. "Ah yes, he's the one that fainted in the attack, right?"

"I didn't faint," Harry said, a bit angrily at the younger girl. "I got hit in the back of the head."

"Yes," Kodachi said doubtingly. "I'm sure that's what happened. Now, I was having a conversation, so I'll merely accept your apologies and we can finish with this."

"Apologies?" Mary Jane repeated, confused beyond belief.

"Yes," Kodachi said. "For my wasted time and effort. I do believe that section of the balcony never fell so my 'rescue' of him was completely pointless, while you were rescued by that garish acrobat in the mask, making my return to get you equally pointless. And now you are both engaging my attention when there are better things I could be doing. So, I'll simply accept your apologies and move on."

Why can't I simply get rid of the Rose?

The thought ground on her through the next conversation, which she went through automatically, filling in responses from the Rose's language.

"Excuse me a moment," she said at a break in the conversation. "I have to go powder my noise."

She left the hall, leaving the high society types to circle among themselves, just as they had been doing while she was there. The Black Rose wouldn't have noticed, but Kodachi did. She was unnecessary at this party, just a bit of entertainment for the industrialists and politicians and old money that had been invited. They would only get offended, or suspicious, if she stayed absent from her own party.

Either case allowed her to get out of the sight of the others and escape the Rose for a time.

She stepped out of the ball room and glided down the hall into a darkened room at the end of the hall that may have served as a library or second study for the previous owners. She sat down in one of the chairs heavily and leaned her head forward into her hand.

She was pathetic. That was the only thing she could say about it.

Even now that she was thinking clearly, her first reaction when socially threatened was to turn to the Rose, again. The idea that a year ago she wouldn't have been acting did not occur to her. All she saw was that she couldn't escape herself.

She turned to look at the door in the moment before it opened.

"This part of the building is not open to the guests," she said in a cool tone.

"Oh, sorry," the young man on the other side said. "I was looking for the bathroom."

Kodachi sat up a moment, a frown on her face at the comment. It was coincidentally similar to her own excuse for leaving the party. Then she looked and saw the face belonging to the voice.

"Peter Parker? What are you doing here?" Kodachi asked, before her eyes lowered to the camera about his neck. "You're the photographer that Mr. Jameson retained for me?" She stood up and flipped back her hair.

"Yeah, that's me," Peter said, watching her closely.

Kodachi frowned a moment and checked her clothes for any sign that they were too loose. She was, after all, well aware of the effect her own beauty had on some men. It wasn't always a good thing

"Are you feeling okay, Kodachi?" Peter asked. "You're not acting like you normally do."

The laugh that followed was shrill, but by no means amused. In fact, it seemed very much on the edge of lunacy.

"You have no idea what normal is for me," Kodachi said.

"If you don't like the party, then why call it?" Peter asked.

Kodachi sighed and considered her position. She needed to find this Spider-man, for that she needed to find out who the photographer that provided the pictures to the Bugle was.

Here she had a Bugle photographer in front of her.

"I was looking for a photographer," Kodachi said, honestly.

"Yeah, I know that," Peter said. "Bu…"

"No, you don't understand," Kodachi said. "I was looking for a specific photographer. The party was…sheer bluff. At least until Mr. Jameson latched onto the idea."

"Oh," Peter said. "I see, and now you're here acting like…"

"A sociopath," Kodachi noted. "Yes…I know."

"I wouldn't go that far," Peter said. "So what photographer were you looking for?"

"I think I'll discuss that with you later, Peter," Kodachi said, starting to stand up. "For now, you need your pictures and I need to show my face to the high society vultures."

"Listen," Peter said. "I've got enough pictures, and you're turning yourself into a wreck and that can't be healthy."

"The party must be attended to," Kodachi protested. "I have a duty as the host. And besides, it won't go on much longer."

Peter watched as she stepped past him, back out into the party.

****

Several thousand feet above the Pacific, a girl sat patiently in her first class seat. A smirking smile sat on her face as she twisted a black-petaled rose under her nose.

***************

Author's Notes: I have a little bit more that is prewritten, for those that have seen this arc before, I'm mixing and matching several of the variations I've had of this story so far. In addition, I'm having to do a lot of fill in writing.


	4. All Nighters

Norman Osborne smiled pleasantly as he talked with the other guests at the party. It was a pleasant side event, and a necessary one. He had to keep his public face, keep the Goblin under wraps. The Goblin had given him some glowering looks through the mirror when no one was looking, but it knew just as well as he did that this was a needed thing.

In addition, this was what Norman was good at.

And as long as Norman was good at something, the Goblin would need him and Norman would survive.

Norman suspected the window of his use was diminishing more and more, however. At least, the window of his perceived use if not actual use, the Goblin was eating up more and more of his mind.

Even now, in what should have been his element, he was afraid and dancing to the Goblin's tune, not stepping out of line for one moment.

You couldn't fool someone that was part of you, after all, that could, had to, watch you every step of the way.

Looking toward the hostess, he could feel the Goblin whispering in his head.

"You see her falling apart there, Norman," the Goblin asked. "She used to be like us, you can see it in the back of her eyes, only she killed her strength. That's what you'll be without me, Norman. I pitiful wreck of a human being. An entertainment for others. Is that what you want to be?"

"No," Norman whispered quietly.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" someone asked nearby.

"Nothing," Norman said, smiling in a charming manner. "I was just saying I haven't seen a party quite like this one before."

****

Peter and Kodachi walked out of Dr. Connor's class the next day, looking over the papers in their hands. The young man resisted the urge to ask about how she was behaving the night before. He'd already tried broaching the subject and the result was Kodachi simply ignoring the question.

"Hmmm," Kodachi said looking over the notes for their advanced biology assignment. "I see this class is going to be a little more challenging than I thought."

"I suppose this is why people aren't allowed to test out of it," Peter agreed.

"It is an uncannily constructed conundrum," Kodachi agreed.

"Yeah, the individual parts aren't complicated," Peter agreed. "But getting them to all fit together..."

"This might take some time," Kodachi nodded.

"I have to get some pictures to the Bugle," Peter said. "But that shouldn't take too long. I could head to your place after that."

"Ridiculous," Kodachi said. "There is no call for you to be travelling out of Manhattan, I still have some errands to attend to and then I shall meet you at your home…assuming you don't mind providing the address."

"If you don't mind," Peter said, cautiously. "That would be easier."

"It's agreed then," Kodachi said firmly. "Oh yes, do thank Mr. Jameson for that…experience. It was…educational."

"What was that about?" Peter asked.

"It…" Kodachi sighed. "I'd rather not talk about it just now."

There it was again, Peter noted with a frown as the girl turned away, then again, he wasn't exactly spilling on his secrets to her.

The difference being that his secrets hadn't yet come up to bite him publicly.

****

Kodachi sat at one of the city library's public computers and casually pulled up google and typing in a few keywords.

In moments, the recent history of Oscorp was playing out in front of her. There wasn't much, but what there was spoke a great deal more than her share-holder's reports had.

A murder and robbery a short few months back had been reported to her as an unspecified setback that had temporarily tabled a few research projects. Before the Goblin had crashed the fair calling "out, am I?" Kodachi would not have noticed or cared for the deception, she had only very limited holdings in Oscorp, inherited from her mother.

After all, it held defense contracts and she was not an American citizen. If she had taken anymore than what she did have, she would have risked setting off alarm bells that even at her least sane she hadn't wanted going off. It was only the fact that she had inherited it instead of purchasing it that had kept her under the radar so far.

The murder and robbery, also buried in the back of the newspaper among insignificant blurbs, was followed a week or so later by a mysterious and tragic explosion at Oscorp's rival Quest Labs. The details were, of course, splotchy, but even the average reader could have read between the lines that some sort of sabotage was suspected. Especially given the total lack of survivors.

She started digging a little bit more, but there was nothing else quite so damning.

"A rogue element?" she wondering, curiously.

Kodachi paused her reading and glanced toward the clock on the wall, blinking in surprise at how long she'd spent there.

"Tsk," she noted sourly. "I'll have to hurry to meet Peter on time."

She glanced toward the roof of the library and flex her fingers.

****

The air whipped past Kodachi as she swung through the New York skies and she revelled in the freedom it brought. Especially in steel canyons with such high walls as New York City. Up here, she felt far away from the cares of her normal life and the role she was trapping herself in again. Up here she was just Kodachi, whatever clothing she wore.

She paused her progress and cut back to another building as her spider-sense flared full and loud.

She took a moment to check her armaments and then continued toward the flaring, toward the danger. Arriving in time to see Spider-Man falling many stories to the street, the Goblin swooping down on him.

****

The Goblin laughed maniacally as he snatched the Sensationless Spider and sailed off into the darkening sky. As all eyes focused on the smoke-spewing Goblin and few noted the figure quietly running along the edges of nearby buildings, looking down upon the retreating figures.

****

Kodachi overlooked the scene below her, uncertain of whether or not she should step in. So far, the Goblin seemed to be simply pacing back and forth, waiting, apparently, for her male counterpart to awaken from whatever drug he had used to bring the other Spider down.

So far, the green-clad monster hadn't yet noticed her, so she hadn't been "encouraged" to step forward just yet.

Kodachi had never been one for the direct confrontations of her peers in Nerima. She was well aware that while she had been one of the top three before Ranma had come, that she was bottom rung, just above those...figure skaters ever since.

She had been one of the most dangerous people in Nerima however, and martial arts had nothing to do with it.

Instead, it had been her ruthless, reckless and well-thought out plans that had kept the other Nerimans on the ropes when dealing with her and kept her out of the line of fire. Her plans had always had layers within layers that made unravelling her designs difficult.

Logically, she knew that she should hold back now and let the Goblin lay out his cards and keep her own existence secret, whatever the risk to the other Spider. If, as she suspected, the Goblin left Spider-Man alive and unharmed, she could then follow the miscreant to his lair and handle matters quietly.

That was logic speaking.

Then there was her own insight into the deranged mindset. The Goblin seemed to be a madman of the same bent as she had once been herself: recklessness, caution, megalomania and a flair melodramatic. But he was also apparently a bit paranoid, and the way he kept ranting and arguing with himself made her worry that he was even more unstable than she was.

The Black Rose would have stayed with her original plan. She would have paid heed to nothing that could steer her off her goal. There would have been countermeasures in place, secondary plans for if the original did go to pot, but she would not abandon a plan unless absolutely necessary.

The Black Rose held no doubt.

The Green Goblin, however, seemed almost to be two people and one of them was nothing but doubt. Which meant that he could change his mind and could decide to just eliminate Spider-Man.

Which brought up other comparisons.

The Black Rose did not doubt herself.

The Spider Rose did.

The Black Rose did not think of others.

The Spider Rose did.

The logical plan was too dangerous for her to continue it any further, so she'd try the next best thing.

Silently she leaped into position, landing with a natural grace that seemed almost to be beyond anything of the flesh. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the Goblin to start to turn back toward the Spider.

As soon as he did, a glob of webbing was already released into the air and, before his eyes came to meet the sight of Spider-Man still lying paralyzed, his head was covered in a enveloping hood.

By the time he'd torn the webbing out of his eyes, his quarry was gone.

"Sneaky little spider," Goblin said, half-growling.

****

A knock brought Harry walking across the studio floor to the door, yawning as he took the opportunity to break away from the studies that had him more than a little frustrated at the moment. Opening the door, he found a familiar young woman standing on the other side.

Her long hair was free instead of bound up in a ponytail at the moment, and she wore a pair of flat shoes in combination with green slacks and a casual red blouse with a wavy pattern that seemed like interlocking flower petals. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark glasses.

It took a few moments for him to recognize the hostess from the party last night back given the very different character of her bearing now.

"Ah, hello," she said, looking decidedly embarrassed to see him.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked coolly.

"Peter mentioned a roommate…" the girl said apologetically. "I hadn't realized that would be you."

"You're here to see Pete?" Harry said, sounding surprised.

"Yes, we're working on a class project," she explained.

"Excuse me if I have trouble believing someone like you would be working with someone like Pete," the younger Osborn noted.

"Really, he struck me as a quite tolerant individual," Kodachi noted.

"Pete, yeah, he's a great guy," Harry agreed, leaving it unsaid but obvious who he thought was less than worthy.

"Ah…yes, last night," Kodachi said. "My apologies. I…forget myself under stress."

"Is that what that was," Harry asked. "It seemed to me like you were just being rude."

"Indeed," Kodachi said, flushing. And then she bowed deeply. "Gomen nasai."

"Right," Harry said as she straightened back up. "Well, Peter's not back yet. He had to go sell some photos."

"He told me this, yes," Kodachi said. "Do you mind if I wait for him?"

"It could be a while," Harry warned. "Sometimes he goes on one of these 'little' errands and then we don't see him for a few hours. He's already a little late."

"I have time," Kodachi noted.

****

Peter groggily came to, surprised that he was still alive to do so. Blinking his eyes open, he unsteadily shifted to a more or less seated position and gaped as he looked about the roof he found himself deposited on.

Had that guy just deposited him here and left?

What the hell was going on?

Standing carefully he glanced about and found his answer in the shape of a rose formed out of webbing seeming to grow from a pipe next to him.

Shaking his head clear, he looked about and, taking measure of his position, Spider-Man loosed a silken rope and swung out into the night sky, heading for home.

Soon, dizziness fading, he found himself flipping into his bedroom of the studio he shared with Harry.

Changing out of his costume, he slipped out into the front room heading for the fridge. After today, he could use something to eat. The first thing he saw, as he turned the light on, was someone at the table, slouched over a bunch of papers.

A slight figure with long black hair, sleeping quietly atop a small pile of papers.

"Oh, damn, I forgot about Kodachi," he said, forgetting the thought of food for the moment and moving quickly to the girl's side.

The other freshman had apparently fallen asleep in the process of taking notes on a personal project of some kind. Most of the notes were in Japanese with a few diagrams of flowers and other plants. Peter couldn't read the Japanese, of course, but he did recognize the basic concept of hybridization along with a few basic DNA codes.

Peter noted with some amused embarrassment that in some places the notes were blurred by a small trickle of drool from where she'd fallen asleep at her task. There were some other notes to the side on their assignment, in English thankfully, but he resisted the urge to look at them just yet.

Carefully, he gathered the Japanese girl up and carried her into his room and setting her down softly in his bed. For a moment, the floral blouse was pulled aside and he caught a reddening glimpse of the start of a small slope of gentle flesh, so pale it caught the moonlight from the window and almost seemed to glow.

Quickly that was covered by his comforter as he glimpsed away, mildly ashamed of the near flash.

Going back to the front room, Peter checked the time and found it was nearly three am. Groaning at what he needed to do, the young man stretched out and went to the fridge for some caffeinated beverage before looking over Kodachi's notes on their project and neatly piling the ones on whatever personal bit of gardening she had planned.

He sat down and proceeded to pick up from where Kodachi left off.

Kodachi's basic concept of biology and genetics was good, but her botany bent kept her running into dead ends that were colorfully punctuated by jagged Japanese lettering that he was sure was something articulate and juvenile all at once. He had a good eye for where to go from where she left off.

****

Without an alarm to spur her to action, Kodachi normally awoke with something less than impressive speed. She yawned and turned over pulling the tick comforter around her as she did so, and started to fade slightly back into sleep.

The sound of voices in the background worked against that, but not completely.

"Peter?" Harry said as he came out of his room and was, moderately, surprised his roommate already up and about and apparently making breakfast. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Early," Peter said, yawning. "I haven't gone to sleep yet."

"What, really?" Harry snapped in surprise. "You're going to be a zombie in your classes today."

"I had to work on this assignment," Peter said.

"Oh," Harry said. "Your lab partner mentioned something about a project or something. Really, Peter, next time you invite a beautiful girl over to the place, it would probably be a good idea to get home before midnight."

"Yeah," Peter said sheepishly. "I guess it would."

"I guess she finally went home," Harry said, shaking his head at Peter's lost chance. Even if the girl was something of an arrogant nut.

The familiar sound of someone walking up the stairs was followed by a slight knock that brought Peter to open the door. On the other side, he noted flushing brightly, Mary Jane stood with a cheerful smile.

"MJ, what are you doing here?" Peter asked.

"I got a part!" she declared loudly and happening.

"That's great, MJ!" Peter said.

"All right, that's my girl," Harry said proudly as he walked past Peter to take Mary Jane into an affectionate hug.

"Just a small role," MJ protested. "But it's a role. And the pay is pretty good. Now, in relation to your thin walls…what's this I hear about a girl?" Mary Jane asked curiously, though sounding a little off balance.

It was probably the early time in the morning.

"Peter invited his lab partner out to the loft," Harry explained. "And then failed to show up. At his own home no less."

"Peter," Mary Jane said, aghast. "How could…"

Mary Jane's speech was interrupted as she noticed someone behind the two boys, walking out. Slowly, Peter and Harry turned around and watched as a disheveled young woman staggered out into the main room.

"Forget what I said earlier Peter," Harry said in an aside. "Way to go."

"What's going on here?" MJ demanded as she walked past the boys towards the near-sleepwalking Kodachi.

Meanwhile, Kodachi yawned and then looked around as she started to finish waking up and began to realize she wasn't home.

"Where…am…I," she asked, blinking.


	5. CrossInvestigations

"What is going on here?" Mary Jane demanded again, turning toward the two young men.

Peter tried to answer but was having troubles getting any words out over the embarrassment of just how bad things looked. Harry, was too busy trying not to laugh for his own fear of girlfriend response.

"It's not what it looks like," Peter insisted finally.

Mary Jane turned to look at Harry as Kodachi glanced around, blinking slowly awake as she took in her surroundings, quietly whispering and taking note of the fact that she was apparently still at the studio loft Peter Parker shared with his roommate.

"Don't look at me," Harry said. "I thought she went home. I wasn't expecting her to wake up with a roofie hangover."

Kodachi paused at that and started running a mental checklist of her condition even as Mary Jane waved that aside.

"I wasn't thinking that," Mary Jane said, though she was a bit relieved in any case.

"This isn't my house…is this still Peter's loft? Is he finally home?" Kodachi asked. "We barely any time for this project..."

"We have two weeks," Peter noted to the other two.

There was some sleepily slurred Japanese that Peter was certain was something referring to the number of times either he, she or both were late to class.

"Wait, aren't you Kodachi Kuno?" Mary Jane asked, finally recognizing the aristocratic woman under the disheveled girl.

She remembered Peter mentioning something about sharing classes with her. Once again, she was faced with conflicting images of the Kuno woman.

"Yes," she said. "Hold on, I seem….ah, of course, if your boyfriend lives here, of course you would visit."

"You do remember me then," Mary Jane said as she saw Kodachi waking up. "Nothing about 'committing faces to memory.'"

"Ah, you remember that," Kodachi noted. "Perhaps I should find my bag and take my leave."

The small Japanese girl looked about before scooping up a large shoulder blue shoulder bag with a stylized rose on it and, slumping into herself walked out of the room.

"Hey, wait," Mary Jane called out after her, but the girl was gone already. "I didn't mean she had to go. I'm just trying to figure out why she was so rude the other night."

"I get the feeling," Peter said quietly. "That she wasn't…thinking straight all night."

They were quiet for a few seconds before someone finally spoke.

"So, you invited a crazy, rich girl to our place," Harry asked, wide-eyed. "Great."

"Harry," Mary Jane said with the signs of thinning patience.

"I'm only kidding," the young Osborn said. "So, what do you say about celebrating this part of yours?"

"That sounds great," Mary Jane said. "Are you coming, Peter?"

"I wouldn't miss it," the young man said.

****

Not far away, Kodachi walked out of a clothing store with a fresh change of clothing. Her shirt, blouse and unmentionables from the night before were folded carefully and tucked into her bag, a year before she would have simply thrown them away rather than take the trouble of carrying them home to be laundered.

Though she was aware of the fact that most people couldn't afford to buy new clothing simply because they didn't have immediate access to their wardrobe.

The new outfit wasn't anything very special, a yellow t-shirt and some green slacks. It was clean, however, and comfortable. Kodachi only wished that changing herself was as easy and complete as changing her clothing.

But a recovered sanity did not equate to total and complete mental health.

The samurai girl had made herself a lot of habits over the years, and the habits weren't always easy to set aside. At least she was able to recognize the faulty habits now.

She only wished a shower or bath was easier to come by. Too bad these Americans did not seem as interested in the concept of a public bath as her own people were.

The girl paused as she caught sight of the day's Bugle claiming that Spider-man and the Green Goblin were working together. The young woman's mouth twitched a little, wishing she could do something about that, but she'd already established her public persona as being disapproving of the concept of costumed superheroes.

There was very little she could do about the matter in any case.

Frowning to herself, she continued down the street towards her personal errand for the day.

The girl had delayed this visit as long as she safely could, even though it was one of the reasons that she had come to New York. Part of her was just too worried about what she might or might not find out.

Taking a deep breath as her objective came before her, she started to climb up the steps toward the massive building, notebook already coming out.

Fairly soon, she was in the room staring up at one of the largest and most impressive pieces of machinery that she had ever seen. She had never had need for an electron microscope herself, though there had been a few times when she could have certainly used one.

"This is the centerpiece of the lab," the woman said gesturing around. "The largest electron microscope on the Eastern Seaboard. If you're looking to fund a research project of some sort, Miss Kuno…"

"I generally conduct my own research," Kodachi noted. "No, I am interested in a project you had within this lab earlier this year. I asked about the building, and they said you were the one I should speak to."

"Really, which project was that?" the woman asked.

"It involved spiders," Kodachi noted.

"Ah, Dr. Warren's project," the woman said a bit uncomfortably. "Yes, they no longer run the experiment here."

"Would you know where the project was moved to?" Kodachi asked.

"I'm afraid not," the woman said.

"You seem a little troubled," Kodachi noted. "Is there something I should know before seeking further?"

There was a long pause as the woman considered how to responded to Kodachi.

"I'm afraid I can't say too much more, Miss," the woman said. "There is a pending lawsuit from the researchers and the lab refuses specific comment."

"I see," Kodachi responded, frowning as she considered how much of her hand to tip.

She could speak to the lab administrators to ask for information, implying that she had a lawsuit of her own planned against this Dr. Warren, but that would bring up the question of what her grievance was. In addition, it would strike exactly the wrong chord with this scientist whom she would need to be…cooperative if she were to have her questions answered.

"Well," the young woman noted. "My thanks for the tour, if I find the need for such equipment as this, you can guarantee that I shall consider this facility in all fairness."

The woman, a public relations specialist, winced at the carefully phrased statement.

"Good day," Kodachi said, bowing before taking her leave.

****

Peter had no trouble at all with his classes as he got through the day, but part of that was because he'd been unconscious for who knows how long on top of a roof somewhere, put under by the Goblin and rescued by the mysterious other spider that he knew was out there but had yet to make an easily noted appearance.

He had very little information to go on as to who it might have been, though had a feeling that it may have been a woman, but that might just have been because of the rose. Having never seen the other, however, that was just preconceptions.

There was one lead he could follow, however, the original lab facility. It was only about six or seven months back, so the experiment should still be running. Maybe they'd be willing to tell him if they'd had any other high school tours to see the facilities and, especially, the super-spider project.

Peter was walking up the steps as Kodachi was walking down, a small jumble of people leaving or returning from lunch hours conspiring to keep either from seeing each other.

Walking into the main lobby and moving toward the information desk, Peter looked down to uncap his camera before talking to the man behind the visitor's desk, noting the list of projects as he did and the fact that the super-spider project was no longer on the grounds.

"Hello," the man said pleasantly. "How can I help you?"

"Yeah," Peter responded. "There was a high school tour here a few months back. Is that a common thing?"

"Oh yes," the man said. "We host high school field trips through the facilities several times a year."

"Can I have a list of which high schools were here this year?" Peter asked politely.

"You look a little young to be a reporter," the man noted as he looked to the camera and made an assumption.

"I'm interning," Peter explained. "I'm thinking of writing an article on the lab and its impact on the community."

"I see," the information rep said. "Well, I'll have to check with my superiors on that. If you can give me a way to reach you, we'll contact you when we have some information for you."

"All right," Peter said, backing away a little disappointed at how little information the man was giving out.

Peter was walking across the lobby toward the exit when his eyes caught sight of the facility map.

On the grounds behind the main building, there was a greenhouse. He thought back to the rose weaved out of webbing and turned around again. Unfortunately, there was as little information there as from the lobby.

The only spider problem they'd had was a near thing with a recluse that had bitten a gardener. Fortunately, the spider had been recognized and the bite treated before any serious damage had developed. The only thing marginally interesting he'd learned was that they sold some of their strains to horticulturists and botanists around the world.

Unfortunately, that was only interesting and not really useful.

****

The sound of gunfire reached Kodachi's ears and she moved carefully to the nearest building before peeking around a corner to see what the situation was. A gunman was backing into a convenience store with his partners as a foot cop found cover among a small crowd of screaming and dodging people.

Glancing up, Kodachi quietly moved up the wall, going quickly around a corner before leaping from one wall to another to eventually hit a nearby roof. She didn't have the arm guards or boots with her, they wouldn't fit in her bag after all, but she had the basic costume and a few weapons.

The police officer would be calling for back up soon, she realized as she pulled her arms out of her shirt and the costume top down through the neck and over her body. The bottom of her outfit was already on underneath her slacks, so those only had to be taken off.

She was fully costumed in under a minute and leaping out to land lightly and soundlessly atop the convenience store that was quickly coming under siege. Reaching into one of several pouches in the belt around her waist, she pulled out a marble and tossed it down in front of the store.

Immediately, the marble broke and a white mist started spreading out over the scene, obscuring everything ten feet in every direction.

"What the hell?!" one of criminals within snapped. "Tear gas?"

"Just smoke," another said, gun aimed at the clerk. "Watch the door, they'll be coming."

"Coming?" a third asked. "There's only one car and a few foot-cops out there, who has smoke grenades?"

Even as he made the question, there was a flutter in the smoke, prompting two of the robbers to fire out, bullets cutting through at about chest height. Immediately afterward, a red and blue garbed figure rolled out of the smoke, coming to a standing position in front of two of the gunmen as a hand lashed outward toward the distant third and spray of webbing gobbed up the weapon pointed at the civilian.

The furthest gunman got out one reflexive shot as the dart struck his shoulder and his body started to seize up.

"Spider-man!" one started to shout as the masked crime-fighter faced her hands toward each other and produced a short, thick rope from paired streams of webbing.

The rope spun out knocking the gun out of the hand of the only robber still able to use one and possessing a firearm that was still operable. The first stopped trying to untangle his hand from the gun he'd be holding and swung out with the weapon, trying pistol whip the costumed-hero.

He found his hand caught in the rope and his body suddenly flying across the store to slam into the paralyzed thug, leaving only one robber with any ability to fight back and he was paralyzed by shock and fear in the fractions of second it took the red and blue garbed fighter to wrap him up in several strands of webbing.

All told, the fight had taken no more than two or three second and the clerk stood there staring in shocked awe as the figure that had just saved him, maybe saved his life, turned and nodded quietly and swiftly used her webbing to produce a simple rose-shaped sculpture which she left on the counter before vanishing into the smoke again.

"That…that was a girl," he said stuttering as the smoke cleared and the cops came in to deal with the incapacitated thugs.

****

Not far away, on the other side of the laboratory facility both had just recently paid a visit too. Spider-Man was hurriedly pulling accident victims out of a pile up of vehicles on one of several bridges.

A combination of speeding vehicles and a truck driver suffering a mild heart attack had resulted in the problem, and Spidey had only just come around the bend to see the wreck, a bit too late to stop it.

So far, he was having a lucky streak. He'd already delivered the trucker to an ambulance and so far he'd found that everybody had survived the wreck. As he ripped the door off another car and reached in to grab a senseless driver, he noted the arrival of police cars and remembered the headlines on the Bugle today, accusing him of working with the Goblin.

Still, he still had about three more people to get out of the wreck and that was his responsibility. After that, he'd leave it to the experts to clear the wreck.

****

Norman Osborn tapped his fingers, growling as he ostensibly looked over the statements and reports coming out of his company. There was nothing there, however to interest him. In the background, the evening news was playing, but he was paying hardly any attention on it as he considered his real problem.

At least, until his problem was mentioned by one of the anchors.

"And it seems that Spider-Man is not alone in his deeds," the anchor was stating. "At the same time as Spider-Man was helping rescue efforts involving a multi-car pile up on the Brooklyn Bridge, another webslinging hero…or rather heroine, was bringing an early stop to a potential hostage situation not ten blocks away. This second one, currently being called Spider Rose, is possible the source of the increased activity in our friendly neighborhood wall crawler the past two or three weeks."

Norman let the rest of the report fade out as it descended into what was more or less fluff material.

"Two spiders," he said frowning. "Of course, that would explain things."

A familiar sensation passed over him as he felt the Goblin creeping into dominance.

"You have to treat this carefully Osborn," the Goblin snapped. "This second spider is watching the first's back. But…"

"But?" Norman asked.

"But, who is watching her back, I wonder," the Goblin asked.


End file.
